呜呼哀哉

嗚呼哀哉

wūhū-āizāi

idiom

Meanings

1 alas!
2 all is lost
3 (facetiously) done for, finished, kicked the bucket

Characters

(interjection of sighing)

to exhale, to call out

(classical exclamatory particle)

Examples

HSK 7-9

他这次创业失败了，多年的积蓄呜呼哀哉。

Tā zhècì chuàngyè shībài le, duōnián de jīxù wūhū-āizāi.

His startup failed this time, and his years of savings - all gone.

HSK 7-9

祭文最后写道：呜呼哀哉，尚飨。

Jìwén zuìhòu xiědào: wūhū-āizāi, shàngxiǎng.

The eulogy ends with: 'Alas! May the spirit accept this offering.'

Tips

history

The phrase comes from classical funerary writing. 呜呼 is a sigh, 哀哉 literally ‘how sad!’. Together they are the conventional sign-off of formal eulogies (祭文) since the Han dynasty. It already appears in 《诗经》: 於乎哀哉. Modern speakers borrow it half-jokingly to mean ‘and that was the end of that.’

register

In serious context: solemn, funeral register. In everyday speech: ironic, comic. ‘His diet plan went 呜呼哀哉 the moment he walked past the bakery.’ Tone of voice carries the meaning.

Stroke Order

呜 wū

呼 hū

哀 āi

哉 zāi